Unexpected Connections

I had a unexpected connection today. An old roommate, whom I haven’t spoken to in over 25 years, tracked me down at my place of work. Apparently, this is a very small world and relatively easy to find people, if said person is addicted to social media (we won’t name names).

I believe that I was at her wedding in 1990 and outside of a weekend visit after that, we’ve had no contact. We lived together for several months and spent about a year staying connected. Then life got busy for the both of us and we drifted apart.

This picture was taken during the latter part of her wedding. I don’t remember what the drink was but it looks like I had a lot of it. I do vaguely remember having lots of fun. Ah, the memories. Or not.

Learning about other peoples lives is fun for me but I learned something about myself. Once we understood that we’d both been married twice with no children, and that we each have a lot of years at our employment, there was little else to talk about. I realized that I don’t know how to make small talk very well.

Being a bit of an introvert makes small talk nearly painful for me. After I get to know someone, I have few problems with conversation but that initial interaction is awful. In fact, as long as I stay within my comfort circle, I show few signs of being an introvert. And I have learned a lot about how to be social over the years. Sometimes, I simply choose not to.

This talk about being an introvert can be a bit unbelievable when I have this blog that I post three times each week. But in my defense, writing a blog post is easier than having a conversation. Pushing a button to schedule a post is easy. And unless I get some comments, which I appreciate by the way, there is little in the way of conversation. This part is easy.

Face to face is more difficult for me, which again is funny because I talk to people, strangers for the most part, as a way to make a living. I can’t explain this difficulty, though it is real.

On the other hand, I guess I can accept that my friend and I didn’t have much in common then and even less now, which makes finding topics to talk about difficult to find. It is what it is.

I wonder what my life would have been like if I had made different choices at that moment. I’m not sure I’d change a thing. Well, maybe one or two but there are few regrets.

If you could, who would you like to be in touch with, regardless of how long it has been?

9 thoughts on “Unexpected Connections”

I think the” introvert” in you comes from the fact that you DO talk to people all day long…it’s your job! I know I now hate too talk on the phone, I had to talk on the phone all day long…Grandma is the same way! Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!

Hmmm… There are a small few people I wish I had tried harder to hold on to. People that meant a lot to me in High School that I lost touch with but still dream about often. One guy, a good friend, I would have dreams that he was dying or dead. I hadn’t seen him in at least 15 years and I called up his mother to make sure he was ok. I must have sounded like a loon. I ended up talking to him and he was fine. I didn’t feel like I was talking to a 30 something man but a 17 year old boy. People cease to age for me – they tend to stay the same age in my head.
And I’ve been blathering on but it is an interesting topic and I think I’ll blog about it and link over to you.

It is a bit unnerving to think about this. I have several people who come to mind. Good memories. I do not want to imagine how sad it might be to ruin those memories with a mismatched conversation. One or two would surely be good conversations because our friendships were not based on our busy lives…rather they were based on our shared thoughts and beliefs which I know can change, but were so much a core part of us that they probably didn’t.
HOWEVER, I am wise enough to know that we cannot go back. I am mostly content to love the people and memories. I am busy living and making memories with my today people…and I am glad you are one.

Hey Angie, sorry our conversation wasn’t a great experience. If, in any way you would like to try to connect again just send me an e-mail, if not I understand. I have lots of memories from way back then and have thought about you over the years. Sometimes my curiosity just gets the better of me! Take care…

You have not offended me at all, I was just hoping that after all this time it would be so great to catch up on what has happened through the course of our lives. After talking to you I realized how parts of our lives are similar yet so different, I think that is kind of awesome! Anyway if it is easier to converse this way that would be great! I will send you my e-mail address via text message and you can take it from there. 🙂 Take Care!